1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing device configured to print one or more sets of documents to be distributed to one or more recipients in output formats according to their personal preferences, and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printing devices have recently attained widespread use for printing the result of an output from a computer, and the like onto a recording medium such as paper.
Such a printing device is called, for example, a “printer”, and is connected to a computer via a network such as a dedicated cable or a LAN. A printing device connectable via a network is called a “network printer” or the like.
A printing device having a variety of functions, such as copying, scanning, faxing, and a document server function, in addition to a printing function, is called, for example, a “multifunction device”, “Multi-Functional Peripheral (MFP)”.
For performing various types of printing using such a printing device, a user can designate an output format (printing conditions) including a print layout such as an output paper size, a print side of paper, the number of pages laid out on one surface of paper, and a print color mode.
In general, a user has his/her own preferred output format that he/she uses regularly, and tends to be unfamiliar with a printed matter produced in the other output formats.
Preferences for output formats vary from user to user. For example, some users like “2-in-1” printing through which a two-page document is printed on a single side of paper because the number of output sheets is small. Other users do not like such “2-in-1” printing because letters printed onto paper are too small to be legible. Further, some users like “double-sided printing” through which printing is performed on both sides of output paper because the paper surfaces are effectively used. Other users do not like such “double-sided printing” because the printed matter forces them to turn over the output paper for reading, which is troublesome.
For printing a document only for private use, a user designates an output format based on his/her own preference.
Sometimes, a user prints a plurality of sets of documents for the purpose of distributing the sets of documents to attendees, for example, at a meeting. Stated differently, the user sometimes prints a plurality of sets of documents for readers not including himself/herself.
In such a case, the user often does not grasp readers' personal preferences for output formats, which makes it difficult for the user to select output formats reflecting the readers' personal preferences. Even if the user grasps the readers' personal preferences for output formats, the user is required to select, for each set, an output format according to a reader's personal preference for a case where the user prints a plurality of sets of documents for a plurality of readers. Such a task is burdensome for the user.
To cope with this, there has been proposed a printing device in which individual users register their personal preferences for output formats in advance, and, when print data is sent from a sender to the users, each user (recipient) can print out a document in an output format reflecting his/her own preference (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-208299).
According to the printing device described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-208299, individual readers can obtain printed matters in output formats reflecting their own preferences. In order to do this, however, the readers need to register, in advance, their personal preferences for output formats in the printing device, which is troublesome. In addition, it is the reader himself/herself who is required to perform print output operation, which means that a user forces the reader to perform the print output operation.